A Fireside Chat with Falguni and Adwaita Nayar
India's beauty and fashion industry has undergone a significant transformation over the past few years. With the rise of e-commerce platforms like Nykaa, the industry has experienced a surge in demand for beauty and fashion products. Nykaa has played a crucial role in bringing a wide range of products from various international and local brands to consumers' fingertips. As a result, the Indian beauty and fashion industry has seen a significant shift in consumer behaviour, with an increasing number of people opting for online shopping for their beauty and fashion needs.
Tryst 2023, IIT Delhi's annual technical festival, hosted a Fireside Chat event with Falguni and Adwaita Nayar, founder and co-founder of Nykaa, one of India's leading e-commerce platforms for beauty and fashion products on March 4th, 2023. The event was aimed at providing students with an opportunity to learn from and interact with successful entrepreneurs.
The event was attended by hundreds of students, faculty members, and guests from various industries. The founders shared their experiences and insights on various aspects of entrepreneurship, including identifying opportunities, building a team, raising capital, and scaling up the business. They also discussed their vision for Nykaa, the company's approach to sustainability, and its commitment to promoting ethical sourcing and manufacturing practices.
While talking about the journey of Nykaa, Ms. Falguni talked about how she always had an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to create something that could make a difference. She mentioned that the beauty and fashion industry in India was an area that she felt had a lot of potential for growth and innovation. She noticed that there was a lack of reliable platforms that could provide customers with access to a wide range of products, and saw an opportunity to create something that could cater to the needs of every customer, regardless of their location or preferences.
When I was nearing 50, I realised that if I didn't take the leap and start my own business, I might never get the chance to do so. In the early days of building Nykaa, one of the biggest challenges was to create a brand that would stand out in a crowded market. We had to build a reliable supply chain and establish relationships with international brands. Additionally, we had to create awareness about the platform among potential customers, given the relatively low penetration of e-commerce in India at the time.
Beauty and Fashion's new must-have’s is sustainable sourcing at scale. Talking about this deeper and discussing about how does Nykaa think about sustainability in fashion and beauty industry, Advaita shared,
We are working on making Nykaa Fashion, a platform that curates relevant, engaging, and educative conversations on sustainability – by building it into the shopping experience via product tags, and detailed information on product pages. Regularly driving overall awareness around sustainability via lives, videos, and conversations with sustainability advocates on our digital platforms, Nykaa Fashion aims to become a destination where consumers can not only shop sustainable labels but also educate themselves on all aspects of sustainability.
The Fireside Chat was followed by a Q&A session, where students and guests had the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the founders. The session was highly engaging and informative, with Falguni and Adwaita Nayar sharing valuable advice and insights on entrepreneurship and the beauty and fashion industry.
The event was a huge success and received positive feedback from attendees, who praised the quality of the discussion and the insights shared by the founders. The event was a testament to the festival's commitment to providing students with a platform to engage with and learn from industry leaders, and it is sure to inspire and motivate the next generation of entrepreneurs.
